The Beginning of Something
by it's a riot
Summary: Sick of cliche Lily and James stories? Well, so am I...so I wrote this. Most people tend to think that Lily Evans and James Potter are meant for each other...But were they really one another's (-gasp-) true love?
1. A Prologue to Get This Moving

**_The Beginning of …Something_**

**Disclaimer:  **There's no J.K. Rowling here and all the characters from the Harry Potter books belong to her.****

**Prologue: **

            You haven't the slightest clue as to what I'm talking about, do you?" a girl of 17 years called to the boy walking ahead of her.

            **_-Freeze Frame-_**

            As we look about at this girl of normal stature, we realize that right now something important is going on.  Her auburn curls seem to twist in fury, matching the look upon her delicate face that has broken many hearts.  Not intentionally of course.  The pain shows in her eyes (a simple shade of dark green) as she stares at her "one _true love."_

            At least that's the way the story always goes.

            Her true love is James Potter, by the standards of all fanfiction writers everywhere.

            But is he really?

            True, she may have fallen for him, but is he the cause of this flutter in her heart that won't go way for an instant?

            Not in the slightest.

            And at any rate, is there even such a thing?  As "true love," that is…

            I suppose we'll find out…

                                                            -------

            A/N - I'm not quite sure where I'll go with this but if you like the direction it's going in, please review to tell me your thoughts.


	2. Getting to Know You

**_The Beginning of …Something_**

**Disclaimer:  **There's no J.K. Rowling here and all the characters from the Harry Potter books belong to her.****

**Chapter One: **Getting to know you, getting to know all about you…

            Now this story is about Lily Evans and no one else.  Lily, of course, would probably rather I not tell you this because she wouldn't want to be seen as egotistical.  But let's say it again for more closure.  Lily is the story.

            I would describe to you her looks, but I've already done so.  If you are one of those forgetful people, I suggest you go back to the prologue and re-read about her physical features.  I needn't be bothered to repeat them.

            Our heroine received her letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when she was just barely seven.  There had been a mistake in the system at Hogwarts and they seemed to have misjudged her age.  They quickly revoked her right to go to wizarding school at such a young age, but since she had gotten that letter all Lily ever dreamed about was Hogwarts.

            "Can I go to Hogwarts, yet?" the little one would ask her parents each morning when she rose from her slumber. 

            "No, honey," was their candid reply.

            "Now?"

            "Sorry, darling…but not just yet."

            "Now?"

            And so, on and so on.  I would repeat the number of times she said it, but that would be beyond the limits of one chapter.  Plus it's tedious to reiterate things over and over again.

            It also got a bit tiresome for her mother and father after a while, as I'm sure you can imagine.

            So, after three years of hearing, "Now?  Now?" a couple thousand times, her parents were very relieved when she attained another letter from Hogwarts when she was the correct age of ten.

            It was a sad goodbye scene we are about to witness, as she left her parents for the very first time and went to Hogwarts.

            "I'll miss you, sweetheart!" Her mother cried with tear-filled eyes.

            "Have a nice time," her father added and gave her a big hug.

            "I will," the eleven-year old replied giddily and took off for the train, "Goodbye!"

            "We love you!" her parents called.

            It was that day that Lily's childhood ended and she grew up.


	3. If You Don't Beat It, I'll

**_The Beginning of …Something_**

**Disclaimer:  **There's no J.K. Rowling here and all the characters from the Harry Potter books belong to her.****

**Chapter Two:** If You Don't Beat It, I'll…

            Now Lily had no intention of feeling like an outsider at this new and different wizarding school.  For this reason, she took to reading her school books for the entirety of the train ride.  Except for the moment where she was rudely interrupted by a young boy with messy black hair.  As she always is in almost every portrayal of her story. 

            Why should this one be any different?  Be anymore original?  People will still read it anyhow.

            And it would ruin the essence of predictability!

            So on words…

            "Hello," the boy said causally and moved through the compartment doors, "Anyone else sitting here?"

             "No, but if you can stand the clutter, you're welcome to sit down," she said looking up slightly.

            She quickly returned to the book that was currently consuming her time.

            He glanced around disgustedly at the organized mess of books and parchment that had made a temporary home on the floor and on the vacant seats.  I think it's safe to say that he wanted nothing to do with Lily.  Not that anyone should be surprised by this.

            "No, I'm fine in my own compartment," he replied, "I was just on a mad search for my friends.  I don't think even they would be able to fit under _this_ mess."

            "Why thank you for stopping by, be sure to come again," Lily mumbled as he started to turn out of the room.

            "I'll be sure to," he said with a wicked grin, and shut the door to search more for his friends.

            "Prat," Lily murmured, and flipped the page on her book.

            From what I know about her, it was the most she could do to keep herself from hurling one of those heavy books that were in a heap on the floor at the door.

            A mere few hours after regaining her composure, the train came to a stop and Lily found herself making a quick dash to catch up to the other first years being led to the boats.  Those books had taken all too long to clean up and she ended up in a boat with a pale blond boy, a glittering-eyed black-hair boy and the very rude boy of whom she had encountered in her compartment.

            "Why hello," the boy smiled and gave a look to the other young men, "You didn't think you would be seeing me again, did you?"

            This time, I believe it was Lily's moment to shine with disgust.

            "Well, no I didn't.  I hoped you might have been thrown out of the train by 'accident.'"

            Then our favorite heroine took the liberty to cross her arms dramatically and stare blankly at the lake water.

            "See.  I won the bet, mates.  She is insane," the boy to her right said and took her hand in his, "Sirius Black, my sweet."

            "I'm so charmed, but it takes more than simply wishing a person trouble to make them crazy."

            I would describe just how Lily took her hand out of Sirius's but I'm sure you can tell by now that she is feeling a little bit more than peeved about being stuck in a boat with these boys.

            "Yes, I suppose it does," he replied, taken back by her cool demeanor.  "This is Peter and the boy you're already familiar with is known as James."

            Lily sighed briefly.  "Like I said before, charmed...  Really, I am."

            There's no need to describe any more any further because it has been established that Lily does not like these boys, will never like these boys, and has absolutely no intention of talking to them any further.  Nor did the boys, who were extremely insulted by this girl's rude awakening.

            They barely exchanged any additional conversation except for the huge "OOH!" they shared when the castle of Hogwarts had been spotted.

            Soon enough, we find all the first years lined up and waiting for the Sorting.  All have simultaneous looks of terror on their faces.  The occasional few are seen biting their nails and cracking their knuckles in nervousness.

            Once the Sorting is over and Lily is rightfully sorted into Gryffindor on her "immense talent" merits, she is once again at ease with herself.

            She finds that the food is incredibly wonderful and feels pretty stuffed when she's finished her plate.  Of course, we know she goes for seconds because who couldn't resist all that amazingly tasty food?

            At the point of second helpings, the post finally arrives.  Lily in awe of all the owls soaring through the Great Hall and pauses to watch them, just like many other muggle-born students.

            We find seconds later that Lily is wanted by someone.  There was a sharp tap on her shoulder that caused her to jump nearly ten feet in the air and not by any magic trick.

            She turns around to find—who else?

            James was standing behind her, holding a piece of parchment.

            "You again?" Lily asked him with a tone that implies that she's fairly annoyed.

            At this point, he's just as annoyed with her.  He was quick to thrust the letter (that arrived in his place at the table by complete 'accident') into her hands and speak.

            "Get used to it.  According to the fanfiction writer, I'm going to be bumping into you everywhere you turn for the next seven years."

            "Just get away from me now, for the moment," she said angrily, "And I don't want to see you for another six years!"

            "Gladly," he replied, turning on his heel.

            At this Lily opened her letter in peace, read it anxiously, and then proceeding in running out of the Great Hall out of anguish.


	4. And the Unnecessary Hatred Continues

**_The Beginning of ...Something_**

**Disclaimer**There's no J.K. Rowling here and all the characters from the Harry Potter books belong to her.

**Chapter Three** And the Unnecessary Hatred Continues...

Lily Evans sat quietly in the Gryffindor common room, peacefully reading a book (because reading a generic book is a convenient way to make a character seem intellectual). Unfortunately, she was having a difficult time getting past the first few sentences because, frankly, she hated being stared at. Of course, as the _most popular_ girl in all of Hogwarts, she was constantly being stared at.

As you may infer, people were in awe of her beauty and the energetic presence she brought with her every time she entered a room. Like right at this very moment, when Lily was attempting to read a book, all of the Gryffindors in the common room felt it necessary to drop everything once she entered the room in order to stare at her and sigh; while secretly envying her in the back of their feeble minds.

But in all truthfulness, knowing the depths of Lily's character, she was a gothic bookworm at heart, as it always is one or the other in all of fanfiction. She had become very subdued and had learned to keep to herself since her parents' death that faithful day in her first year. She still had a presence and from what we can observe, was fairly upbeat most of the time, but ever since that day, she had always had a nagging feeling in her heart. She felt as though something terribly big was missing and that the void would never be filled. That was the most logical explanation, in my opinion and many other fanfiction writers, for her lack of trust in everyone.

Oh, she most definitely kept her innermost desires to her self and kept up the image of this clean-cut wizarding girl, but deep down she wanted nothing more than to scream at her current audience to leave her alone.

Instead, she flipped a page of her book over and pretended to be immersed in her reading.

It was that exact moment that the Marauders decided to barge into the Common Room and upset the peaceful activity of 'Lily Evans-watching.'

Now this was one more thing that made people jealous for Lily. James Potter and his friends always found ways to annoy her. Of course, it was a known fact that they found ways to annoy everyone but Lily seemed to be a special case, in their eyes.

"Evans," James smirked as his friends followed him through the portrait hole.

"Potter," she countered, not bothering to look up.

She braced herself for a short little torturous conversation that would end with Potter asking her out. That was what always happened. As you may have noticed, fanfiction writers everywhere have taken to the idea that James always asked Lily out every time they talked because of one incident they read about. With all the time James spends trying to lure Lily to him, you would think he would not have time for anything else, and yet he still manages to be at the top of his class and a prominent Quidditch star. He is almost flawless, in our eyes.

Except for the fact that Lily clearly still sees him as a prat.

"So, reading again, are we?" he said, glancing at the book she had in her hands. The rest of the common room watched them closely because they had nothing better to do.

"No," she answered, feeling that the incessant fighting between them was getting a little old, "There is no 'we' here. I am reading and you are badly attempting to mock me."

It was quite obvious how annoyed she was by the small fact that her eyes were narrowing at a rapid pace. If you blinked, you might have missed it.

"Well if I stop," James started and looked to his friends with a grin while he took to messing up his already untidy hair, "Will you go out with me?"

Lily simply snorted and thought briefly about what to say next.

I'll let you glance into her mind for a moment as she ponders the best answer to James' inquiry.

'_I'd rather go out with the giant squid,' I could say, but I already used that one last week. Hmm... How about, 'I'd rather work for the rest of my life as a house-elf'? No. That might offend someone. Oh, I could comment about jumping out the window. Yes, that would work; I haven't used that one before..._

The comment came angrily out of her parted lips faster than she had imagined. "I'd jump out the tower window before I'd go anywhere with you."

"Hey, close one, mate," Sirius Black said from behind James, "I thought maybe she hesitated there for a second."

A couple others in the common room nodded at James before turning back to their normal activities.

"I'll volunteer to catch you," one boy called out from across the room and some laughter erupted as James and his group of friends stalked off.

As in any other story, Lily's friends quickly rushed over to talk to her.

"Lily, you should have said yes that time," said Arabella Figg (though she's much too old to be in Hogwarts, somehow appeared).

"Yes," a girl named Alice agreed, "He sounded much more sincere that time."

"I still think yesterday's proposal was better," her friend Morgina argued with a frown, "Although if Sirius asked me out the way James has been asking you, I would have said yes ages ago."

As usual, Lily laughed but didn't bother trying to smile. "I stick to my convictions."

"Then I say your convictions are wrong," Morgina teased.

If you knew what Lily was thinking, you would know she wanted nothing more than to scream again but she just flipped another page in her book and sighed.


End file.
